Whale Arts Agency

Wester Hailes Arts for Leisure and Education

0131 458 3267

WHALE ARTS wins prestigious Creative Regeneration award

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Community-led arts charity WHALE Arts won top prize at SURF Awards 2019 for Best Practice in Creative Regeneration on 5 December at Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel.

WHALE Arts was announced winner of the Best Practice in Creative Regeneration at SURF Awards 2019 for its long-term and innovative approach. Founded by local community members in 1992 WHALE Arts centre offers a range of ongoing art activities, events and creative opportunities available to the South West Edinburgh community which impressed SURF judges.

The SURF Awards are delivered each year by SURF, a regeneration forum with over 300 cross-sector member organisations across Scotland, in partnership with the Scottish Government. The purpose is to highlight, celebrate and share the achievements of initiatives that address physical, social and economic challenges in communities across Scotland.

Representatives of the five category winning initiatives for 2019 were personally congratulated on their inspiring work by the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Communities, Aileen Campbell MSP.

Aileen Campbell MSP, Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Communities said:

These awards are a great platform for recognising and showcasing successful community regeneration. With each passing year the exceptional standard of applications and shortlisted projects is even higher. This year’s shortlist demonstrates what is possible when communities are empowered to work hard, meet challenges and develop projects to shape their own futures.

SURF judges noted the scale of individual and collective partnerships launched and developed over time and the five winning projects all demonstrate the value of a long-term approach to regeneration. Long-running activities and events at WHALE Arts include Street Arts for youth, smARTies art club for children and smARTcraft for adults with additional support needs.

Leah Black, Chief Executive of WHALE Arts, said:

We are honoured to receive this award. We will continue to work alongside our wonderful community in Wester Hailes to become creative agents for change. It is an exciting time working with local partners, City of Edinburgh Council and The Scottish Government on what might be the first Local Place Plan in Scotland, focusing on Wester Hailes and driving creative regeneration.

Chief Architect for the Scottish Government, Ian Gilzean, is currently in residency at WHALE Arts to explore how an arts centre can inform and drive creative regeneration.  A new Wester Hailes Place Plan is currently under development.

Ian Gilzean, Chief Architect for the Scottish Government said:

Congratulations to WHALE Arts on their well-deserved award, WHALE Arts has been a fantastic base for facilitating the Wester Hailes Local Place Plan while on secondment working for City of Edinburgh Council. It’s been great to work with the wider local community, including partners of WHALE Arts such as Wester Hailes Community Trust and Prospect Housing, to develop creative regeneration possibilities.

WHALE Arts is a social enterprise and charity launched in 1992 as Wester Hailes’ community centre for Arts, Leisure and Education. In 2000 the WHALE Arts centre opened and includes an arts workshop, performance space, community kitchen, creché and board room that local community groups and organisations use. Local artist practitioners support and lead art programmes with partner organisations including Edinburgh Art Festival and local residents in Wester Hailes.

 

For more information about current projects at WHALE Arts contact: info@whalearts.co.uk or visit http://www.whalearts.co.uk

Help Shape the Future of Wester Hailes

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Are you a local resident of Wester Hailes?

You can help shape the future of Wester Hailes in a drop-in event to help inform and develop a Local Place Plan at the Westside Plaza Shopping Centre. Join us on Friday 29 November 11am – 5pm and Saturday 30 November 10am – 4pm.

The Local Place Plan has been led by local residents over the past few months. The event will be an opportunity to hear about the plans and feed in ideas for the upgrading of the Westside Plaza. In January 2020 works will start on resurfacing, creating green spaces, a play area and much more.

The ideas were developed for this by the Wester Hailes Community Trust and local partner organisations including WHALE.

For more information contact westerhailesplaceplan@gmail.com or call 0131 458 3267.

Vacancy: Community Meal Chef and Coordinator

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Community Meal Chef and Coordinator

Hours of Work: 10 hours per week. 10 – 3pm each Friday + 5 hours engagement work to be worked flexibly across the rest of the week.

Salary: Freelance rate of £15 per hour x 10 hours per week for 12 months Nov / Dec 2019 – Nov / Dec 2020

Summary of the Post

We are looking for an experienced and enthusiastic chef to coordinate and cook delicious vegetarian food for the Foodness Community Meal. This post offers an opportunity to use your cooking and organisational skills in a friendly self-organised community environment catering for up to 50 people each Friday, carrying out support for volunteer cooks and undertaking community engagement work to encourage increased volunteering and attendance.

Summary of Project

The Foodness Community Meal is all about shared food and friendship. Based in the WHALE Arts Centre the meal is a collaboration between WHALE Arts, Prospect Community Housing, SCOREscotland and Space Kitchen (formerly The Broomhouse Centre). The free meal takes place every Friday 1 – 2pm and promotes healthy eating in a welcoming inclusive atmosphere, offering a dignified approach to issues around food affordability as well as reaching out to more isolated residents.  The lunch has evolved through various forms in the last few years from a series of Climate Challenge Fund projects run by local partners WHALE and SCOREscotland.  Over the last year Friday Foodness has benefitted from the support of The Broomhouse Centre (now Space Kitchen) who have been a key partner over the last year during their temporary stay in Wester Hailes while their beautiful new centre was being built – during this time their café staff and volunteers produced many of the delicious meals along with Tasting Change and SCOREscotland support.  Currently a wide range of people attend the lunch from the various groups that are connected to WHALE Arts and SCOREscotland alongside Prospect tenants, other local residents and workers.  The intergenerational and intercultural mix of people sitting down to eat together each week illustrates just how effective the Foodness Community Meal is at bringing people together and creating a sense of community.

 

How to apply

Apply in writing or by email, enclosing/attaching:

  • An up to date CV detailing relevant education and employment experience. No longer than two pages.
  • A covering letter demonstrating how your skills meet the Essential and Desirable Skills criteria of the job description. No longer than one page.
  • Details of two referees, including your most recent employer.

 

The successful candidate will be appointed to the role subject to confirmation of PVG Scheme Membership.

Interviews will be held w/c 4th November or w/c 11th November and we are looking for the successful candidate to start as soon as possible.

Send applications to info@whalearts.co.uk by midday on Tues 29th October 2019

For more details on the role please download the job description below or contact Kirsty Frankland, Arts and Wellbeing Lead, by emailing info@whalearts.co.uk or call 0131 4583267.

Community Meal Chef and Coordinator – Job Description

Scottish Parliament hosts younger people’s photography exhibition

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Scottish Parliament Member’s Lobby, 7-11 October 2019

My Edinburgh: A unique perspective of Edinburgh in Photography by the young people of Wester Hailes is an exhibition delivered in partnership with WHALE Arts and Museums & Galleries Edinburgh which showcases photography created by a group of young people from Wester Hailes. The exhibition was designed to encourage the young people involved to present their own personal views of the city and celebrate their vision and creativity.

Kids from Wester Hailes have had their work shown at Scottish Parliament.The 20 young people aged 6-16 from WHALE Arts smARTies and Street Arts projects took part in photography sessions, visiting The Museum of Edinburgh, Royal Mile, Lauriston Castle and locations across Wester Hailes. They worked with photographers Grant Ritchie, Jonathan Cruickshank, Gordon Veitch and Ailsa Grandison to create work and develop new skills showcased in the exhibition which has toured the Museum of Edinburgh, WHALE Arts Centre and now the Scottish Parliament with the support of MSP Gordon MacDonald.

 

Councillor Donald Wilson, City of Edinburgh Culture and Communities Convener, said: “We are delighted to work with the incredible charity that is WHALE Arts.  It has been a delight to see the young people embrace the project and take a real pride in creating their vision of Edinburgh for everyone to see. It has provided them with an opportunity to develop their photography skills and to explore their city, and the results are truly impressive. Well done to everyone involved.”

 Kate Griffin, Creative Programme Manager with WHALE Arts said: “WHALE Arts is very proud to share these images created by the talented and imaginative young people we work with at the Scottish Parliament. We have enjoyed developing and delivering this exciting project with our partners Museums and Galleries Edinburgh. Working with artists, curators and photographers has offered young people in Wester Hailes the opportunity to develop their skills and creativity and to share their perspective on the city.”

Michael Bowdidge, Street Arts Project Co-ordinator with WHALE Arts said: “Working with this group of young people has been a wonderful and literally eye -opening experience. Time and again I have been struck by the subtlety, wit and excitement of the photographs they take. For me, it’s a real privilege to have had the opportunity to see the world through their eyes.”

 

 Media information

  • For enquiries or interviews please contact Kate Griffin on kate@whalearts.co.uk or call 0131 458 3267.
  • Further images are available for use by contacting Laura Delahunt on laura@whalearts.co.uk

WHALE Arts is …

... the cultural anchor organisation for Wester Hailes. We are a community-led arts charity and social enterprise, set up by local people in 1992. Our mission is to be the creative heart of a vibrant, thriving community.

WHALE Arts

30 Westburn Grove,
Edinburgh,
EH14 2SA
0131 458 3267
info@whalearts.co.uk

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WHALE ARTS wins prestigious Creative Regeneration award

Community-led arts charity WHALE Arts won top prize at SURF Awards 2019 for Best Practice in Creative Regeneration on 5 December at Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel. WHALE Arts was announced winner of the Best Practice in Creative Regeneration at SURF Awards 2019 for its long-term and innovative approach. Founded by local community members in 1992 WHALE […]

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